Apple is facing new legal trouble in China over its FaceTime video chat software.

A Taiwanese man has filed a lawsuit against Cupertino alleging that the tech giant's FaceTime infringes on a technology patent he owns, according to M.I.C. Gadget. The man, known only as Lee, claims to hold a patent on a "voice network personal digital assistant" technology, which actually sounds more like a description of Siri than FaceTime.

Regardless, according to M.I.C. Gadget, the Intermediate People's Court in Zhenjiang accepted the case on July 31, and has notified Apple, but the tech giant has yet to respond. The first hearing is scheduled for next month. Lee has not specified how much money in damages he is seeking from Apple, but has indicated that he wants Apple to stop the patent violation.

In a statement obtained by M.I.C. Gadget, Lee's lawyer said the man is a technician at a Taiwanese technology company. While traveling abroad for work, he came up with the idea for an Internet-based calling feature on cell phones to mitigate the high cost of international calling.

He apparently applied for a patent for this idea in 2003. The patent was granted, and initially belonged to the company for which Lee was working. That company has since transferred ownership of the patent to Lee.

Apple announced recently that with iOS 6, FaceTime will be available over cellular networks, not just Wi-Fi. There were also reports that AT&T would charge for using FaceTime over cellular, but nothing has been announced.

Angela has been a PCMag reporter since January 2012. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a reporter for SC Magazine, covering everything related to hackers and computer security. Angela has also written for The Northern Valley Suburbanite in New Jersey, The Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Uniontown-Herald Standard in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of West Virginia University's Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism.
More »